And the dollars keep coming! 3 Austin VC firms this week announced new funds totaling a whopping $656 million – $478M from Gigafund, $132M from Trust Ventures, and $46M from iFly.vc. You can’t find a better time to be a startup in Texas. On that note, I’ll be sending out my quarterly venture reports on the major Texas markets next week, make sure to become a paid subscriber below to receive them and stay up to date!
And speaking of building amazing companies in Texas, here at SchooLinks we are one of the fastest growing Series A companies and looking for talented sales folks with SaaS or edtech experience to join the team. Think you might be a fit, shoot me a message!
Austin Financing Activity
Billd Holdings LLC, an Austin-based payment and finance platform for the construction industry, raised $30M in equity and securities options from six investors. This brings their total funding up to $90M.
Quantum Loophole, an Austin-based data center design company, raised $25.3M in equity funding, following a February $13M seed round.
Kronologic Inc., an Austin-based AI assisted calendar platform designed to focus sales teams on revenue generating meetings, raised $10M from seven investors, according to an SEC filing. This round follows a $2.7M raise in January.
ThreatWarrior, a network and supply chain security company, reported raising $9.3M in equity funding, the third round of funding the company has reported this year, bringing their total funding to nearly $14M this year.
LitLingo, an Austin-based AI communication analytics platform focused on communication risk, raised a $7.5M Series A led by Breyer Capital with participation from LiveOak Venture Partners,Sam Palmisano, Clarke Nobiletti, and James Marsico. This round brings LitLingo’s funding to just under $10M.
Vest Inc., an Austin-based company which appears to be in stealth mode, reported raising $6M from 37 investors this week, according to a filing with the SEC. The filing lists Aaron Polhamus as CEO.
Devolver Digital Inc., an Austin-based video game developer, raised $4.5M from one investor after reportedly raising $7M in January.
Austin IPO Activity
F45, an Austin-based fitness franchise with 2.2K franchise agreements across 63 countries, plans to raise up to $345M in their IPO, according to an SEC filing. They plan to sell 20.3M shares at $15 to $17 each, giving the company a valuation of more than $1.5B. The company plans to trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “FXLV”.
Austin M&A Activity
Cirrus Logic (NAS: CRUS), a leading supplier of products for audio, voice, and haptics, has entered into an agreement to acquire California-based Lion Semiconductor for $335 million in cash.
Other Regional Deal Activity
PFSweb (NASDAQ: PFSW), an Allen-based ecommerce service company, agreed to sell its global customer experience and commerce agency business unit Live Area to Merkle Inc., a part of Dentsu Group(Tokyo: 4324), for $250M.
White Rock Capital Management, a Dallas-based VC firm and hedge fund, reported raising $10M for a new fund. White Rock is primarily focused on gene-therapy firms.
Sow Good, an Irving-based freeze-dried food CPG company, reported raising more than $3M in equity from 29 investors according to an SEC filing. This news comes after a $2.5M round in February.
L-Nutra, a Plano-based nutritional product manufacturer, announced a “significant” growth investment from Brentwood Associates. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. L-Nutra was valued at $75M last year, according to pitchbook.
Evolve Mortgage Solutions, a Frisco-based mortgage platform, acquiredE-Notary Seal, a Dallas-based digital signature and document notary platform. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Rocketmat, a Southlake-based provider of AI for HR management, raised $1.5M Seed Round from Smart Money Ventures, DOMO Invest and Alexia Ventures
IntuiTap Medical, a Houston-based developer of a spinal-needle placement device, raised a $5.5M Series A led by The Pink Ceiling and Curate Capital.
Austin News
Gigafund, an Austin-based VC firm, reported raising a $478M venture fund called “Gigafund 0.14, LP'' led by Paypal (NASDAQ: PYPL) co-founder Luke Nosek and former Founders Fund venture partner Stephen Oskoui. In its early days, Gigafund was known for making early investments into SpaceX and The Boring Company.
Trust Ventures, an Austin-based firm, reported raising $132M for its “Trust Ventures Fund II, LP.” The firm emerged in 2018 with plans for a $50M fund and has since made investments in companies such as Sana Benefits and ICON.
iFly.vc, a VC firm which moved its headquarters from the Bay Area to Austin earlier this year, closed a new $46M fund to back early-stage startups. iFly generally makes investments of $1M to $5M and its portfolio includes Border Lab, Camp Six, and Super Heroic.
Revival Healthcare Capital's new $500M fund to help build Austin's nascent health-tech ecosystem. For proof that Austin’s nascent yet rapidly growing health-technology sector is taking root, one need look no further than the massive $500 million fund closed in May
Halfway through 2021, Austin has nearly tripled job announcements from same time last year
The U.S. Air ForceSelects Austin’s Hypergiant and 28 Other Companies for a $950 Million Contract
Tesla Energy, Brookfield, and Dacra Create the First Tesla Solar Neighborhood in Austin
Tidal wave of industrial space expected in Austin.
Elon Musk's The Boring Co.grabs land east of Austin through a separate entity. Also, Musk says SpaceX still growing in Texas, plans rocket engine factory near Waco.
Founder Institute Austin announced its 2021 program graduates.With over 120 applicants, the accelerator’s four-month program for pre-seed startups announced its latest batch of graduates.
Dell Medical School’sTexas Health Catalyst: Application
Thank You!
Mason Rathe
Additional research and newsletter support provided by William Scheffrahn.